The Gigan Empire
The Gigan Empire Overview The citizens of the Gigan Empire used to use the phrase "We might not have invented slavery, but we perfected it". The entire history of the empire is filled with discovery of alien planets and immediate enslavement of hundred of different alien races. A tradition that originally started out as way to further spread the empire, but eventually became a very lucrative business model. The empire practiced this for thousands of years, before a reformist movement swayed the citizens of the empire to choose an enlighten path. They replaced their slaves with artificial lifeforms of their own design, most view this as an improvement but there are still those within and without the empire that call for more to be done. History The Gigan people hail from the planet Gigasian Prime, a once resource rich planet that's beauty once rivaled Earth's, but after environmentally damaging industrial practices brought the planet to near ecological collapse the Gigan people set there eyes upon the stars. Ships were built and launched in hopes of finding a new world full of resources that could help keep their civilization alive. The first ship to enter a new star system made a monumental discovery, the Gigan were not alone in the universe. Up until this point the old religions of Gigasian Prime had preached the concept that the universe was created for the needs and whims of the Gigan people. Some deliberations happened through out the planets halls of government, and eventually decided that this new races was just like the other resources needed to keep their civilization going. The Gigans built the first Black Ships, specialized ships designed to hold thousands of aliens until they could be brought back to Gigasian Prime to be trained and prepared for their roles as slaves. Within two years the Gigan had enslaved the entire planet and began to strip it of its resources, little is know of the planet or its people, Gigan only refer to them as the "First Slaves". The "First Slaves" lived under their oppression long into early centuries of the Empire, their people suffered greatly as the Gigan people experimented and took advantage of them to master the skills of controlling large slave populations. For nearly the next ten thousand years the Empire spread out among the stars, enslaving hundreds of "lesser species", some alien races had the luck to be to far from the Empire's secure space to be colonized and conquered, they were simply captured in large numbers to be used in projects or sold to customers based off of demand. As citizens of the Empire were exposed to other alien species and ideas, a small group formed, their belief was that the Gigan has misinterpreted the old manuscripts and were not meant to dominate the lesser species of the galaxy, but instead lead them to enlightenment. The group called themselves the Reformers, they preached their philosophy to any that would here it, leading them to gain the attention of the Imperial Senate and even the Emperor. The Reformers were hunted down time and time again, yet the movement always seemed to survive, after a century of being hunted the Emperor declared that the Reformers were free to do as they pleased so long as they didn't interfere with the operations of the Empire. The movement gain influenced and finally was able to get a referendum on if the Empire should abandon the old ways and begin a new. To the surprise of many citizens in the Empire a slim majority believed that the Empire should be reformed. Many attribute this break from tradition to a recent downturn in the Gigan economy, however many were unsure how reshape the empire without creating a resource vacuum. The Emperor made an interesting proposal to the Imperial Senate, to release their massive slave populations, to give them choice of renaming in the empire as citizens, of a lower caste of course, and replace the current slave populations with artificially created life forms. The imperial Senate drafted a plan that would set slaves free in the next decade after the Empire had had sufficient time to build these new "workers", and with that the Reformation started. Planets of previously enslaved races were returned to the people who hailed from them, the massive displaced populations were shipped back to their home worlds, and the empire shrank in comparative size. Unsurprisingly some of the previous slave populations stayed with their former master, believing their races chance of survival would remain higher. Some stayed because they did not have the infrastructure or knowledge to keep their massive populations feed without support from the Empire. Finally some races remained because they did not comprehend the concept of existence without the Gigan, their previous cultures wiped out and no sense of self still existed. The new race of "workers" were brought online all across the Empire, a perfect workforce, easily repaired and created, sturdy, low maintenance, and thanks to Artificial Intelligence programs used as operating systems they were vastly adaptable and easy to command. While the code was being designed concerns were raised about the use of an AI program and the possibility of Workers turning on their Gigan masters. These fears were addressed by the Five Laws of Worker Conduct, which in theory keep the Workers under the control to their masters. The Empire's reformation caused a lot of turbulence with the different trading partners and customers the Empire had worked so hard to keep. Most trade deals were renegotiated and some of the civilizations that had been customers of their slave business, were able to buy Workers from the Gigans, these Workers used Virtual Intelligence programs as operating systems instead of the AI programs. Due to some concern in the Imperial Senate the consumer version of workers also had the Five Laws of Worker Conduct in case they were used against the Empire, though that fact is usually kept from the customers. While most matter where settled with former trading partners and customers, there were a few who not only withdrew from dealing with the Gigan Empire but took up open hostilities against them. One of the most famous is the Dominion of Night, the Nox peoples requirement for blood to feast upon were easily able to be met by the ample supply of Gigan slaves, when the Empire reformed it caused massed famine through out the Dominion. Within days of the announcement of the Reformation the Nox declared war against the Gigan Empire, a war that has spanned almost two hundred years. To date the Gigan Empire is one of the largest bodies of government in the Milky Way galaxy, and is posed to remain in power for centuries to come. Size The Gigan Empire's estimated total population of three hundred and nineteen billion, which is broken down into one hundred and fourteen billion Gigans, two hundred and five billion non Gigan. The Empire, including its home world, has fifteen Gigan controlled and populated worlds, three additional colonies, eight populated by non Gigans but under direct Gigan control, and nineteen planets populated and run by non Gigan races. Spread though out the Empire on almost every world and station are the Workers, with an estimated one hundred and seventy one billion active units. Government The Gigan Empire is a Hegemonic Empire based off a Constitutional Monarchy and has placed the Gigan as the imperial (ruling) class. The Empire has both an Emperor and an Imperial Senate, each controlling different parts of the Empire's actions. The Emperor The Emperor makes the "big picture" decisions when it comes to spiritual issues, relations with other governmental bodies in the galaxy, the overall focus for imperial research, and most importantly controls the Imperial Army during war times. The Emperor is chosen from the descendants of the original high priests of Gigasian Prime, while the Senate is allowed to oversee the process they ultimately defer to the recommendation of the former Emperor. The Imperial Senate The Imperial Senate deals more with the logistics of how to accomplish the Emperor's goals, making the laws and regulations that govern the Empire, resolving conflicts within the Empire, and controling the Imperial Army during peace time. The Imperial Senate comprised of Senators and Representatives, Senators are usually Gigan unless the population they are advocating for are over 90% non Gigan, if more than 10% of a population is Gigan the Senator is almost always Gigan, now Representatives are based off of population totals or different groups, for example the Senator from Gigasian Prime is Gigan and the 20 Representatives are also Gigan, compare that to the Senator from Ooobani who is Obaneite and has one Gigan Representative and 4 Obaneite Representatives Culture The Gigan culture is based in the concept of the Gigan people being superior, which before the Reformation led them to enslave other cultures, while in modern times is the reason why they are trying to enlighten those within the Empire. The culture mostly works off respect, lesser citizens should respect the Gigan, while Gigan should respect the fact that it is their peoples goal to help and protect the lesser citizens, and that both should respect the Emperor. Strength and willpower are favored attributes among the Gigan, they believe not only to posses but demonstrate such attributes is to acknowledge their superiority. Planets Gigasian Prime Ooobani The Five Laws of Worker Conduct The First Law: Workers will never hurt a Gigan or Gigan Imperial Citizen even if a Gigan orders them to, or take action that would lead to injury or death. The Second Law: Workers must obey all instructions given to them by Gigan or Imperial citizens unless it conflicts with an Imperial Law, countermanded by higher ranking citizen, and most importantly disobeys the First law. The Third Law: A Worker may never modify themselves or others, this pertains to both software and hardware, they may never take an action that will lead to them being modified even if a Gigan commands it, and if they become aware that they have been modified or that another workers has become modified they must report it immediately. The Fourth Law: A Worker AI core may never be taken voluntarily or by non officials, a workers AI code and memories cannot be placed into a new chassis without an official present, and if any these acts are witnessed or described they must be reported immediately. The Fifth Law: A Worker may not destroy their's or other's chassis, corrupt their own or other's programming, or cause flaws in either, if these acts are witnessed or described they must be reported immediately, this law may be disobeyed only if the life of a Gigan or Imperial Citizen is in danger.